Frustrated UFC Contender calls for end of ‘cheap’ events: ‘Apex cards must stop!’”

Welcome to Midnight Mania!

Renato Moicano is all about the “Money,” and the Lightweight contender doesn’t believe the UFC Apex serves much of a purpose in 2025.

Just a few years ago, the promotion’s personal venue was a way to keep the lights on and fights rolling while the world was shut down in 2020. Five years later, the role has shifted, as the Apex is now host to more events than not, but they’re consistently lower profile fight cards. An entire evening at the Apex is lucky to have more than a couple of ranked athletes, relegated to the main and co-main event at best. The rest of the evening is usually filled with the latest batch of Contenders Series products, many of whom don’t last much longer than their initial contract. There was briefly a plan to shutdown the Apex for the first half of 2025, but obviously that idea was scrapped.

Weighing in on last weekend’s UFC Vegas 104 event, Moicano talked about his current issues with the Apex and whether or not the event was “bad.”

“To me, it was a bad UFC [card],” Moicano explained on his YouTube channel (via MMAFighting). “Everybody’s saying it was an excellent UFC, that there were a lot of knockouts and submission. That’s true, there were plenty of knockouts and submissions … But why do I think the card was so bad? Because the UFC Apex works to hype certain fighters that come from the Contender [Series].

“The APEX is this area for the UFC in Las Vegas, next to the UFC PI, so they don’t pay to use the space, so it’s a cheap card for the UFC. There’s no fight week [activities], and that’s why I think it’s so bad when they’re at the UFC Apex. There’s no dynamic like other Fight Nights [on the road]. It’s good [when it’s elsewhere] because all the athletes go to a different city and they call TV stations, radio people, and you do a Fight Night with media day and open workouts and that makes people excited to watch the fights. But nobody cares when it’s the UFC Apex.”

Moicano believes that these low-profile Apex cards make it impossible to build stars. Young prospects score big knockout wins, but it doesn’t affect their overall position in the division or get fans particularly excited. Specifically, he cites Kevin Vallejos as a talented fighter who scored a knockout but didn’t gain much from the win.

“UFC Apex cards must stop,” Moicano said. “For example, Carlos Vera beating Josias Musasa, what does that do for the bantamweight division? It changes absolutely nothing. F—k it, you know? They put fights on the Apex and f—k it. Cool, nice finish, but where do we go from here? Will people start talking about Carlos Vera fighting Felipe Lima or someone hyped in the bantamweight division? They won’t, especially because it doesn’t make a difference. That’s my point. You can have a bunch of knockouts, like Waldo Cortes-Acosta on Ryan Spann. So what? Where does Waldo Cortes go? What is he going to do? Who is he fighting?

AD

“The only guy other than Andre Lima that had some hype was Kevin Vallejos, and that’s because of a loss. He fought Seung Woo Choi at featherweight, he’s 15-1 now, but I think he kind of blew it. His only loss was to Jean Silva and he gets to the UFC and knocks out this Korean and asks to fight Jean Silva, a fight that makes no sense. But I want to see what his kid does in the division, because the Jean Silva fight was excellent. I really don’t know what his next step will be but I want to watch his fight. He got a little bit of hype. Now imagine if Kevin Vallejos was fighting on a pay-per-view and knocks this guy out. The hype would be completely different. That’s my problem with the UFC Apex.”

Fortunately for Moicano, he’s been mostly fighting outside of the Apex in recent years. He was quickly submitted by Lightweight champion Islam Makhachev in a crazy last-second opponent swap last time out, but prior to that defeat, the Brazilian had won four in a row in impressive fashion to build up his position as a Lightweight contender.

“Money” remains unbooked currently.

Insomnia

MVP is continuing its investment in women’s boxing:

If you’re not hype for Takeru vs. Rodtang this weekend … GET HYPE!

I can think of multiple European talents who have opted not to sign with UFC in favor of superior payouts elsewhere. Is this worrying to anyone else?

Paul Craig is heading back to 205-pounds, but the match ups aren’t getting any easier.

Dread it, run from it, the Russian takeover arrives all the same.

If SEAN STRICKLAND of all people says you need to get help and talk to a therapist …

Matt Brown had some of the slickest Muay Thai trips and dumps in UFC history.

Slips, rips, and KO clips

The legendary Genki Sudo flowing on the canvas and forcing the finish:

Liverpool’s Luke Riley, age 25, has won eight of his 11 wins via KO and will likely be in the Octagon sooner than later.

Real ones remember Diego Brandao absolutely terrorizing his season of TUF.

Random Land

Thinking about root canals makes my blood pressure spike.

Midnight Music: Indie, 2023

Sleep well Maniacs! More martial arts madness is always on the way.